Her love for the social climber Adolphus Crosbie and Johnny Eames's unrequited love for her form the plot of The Small House at Allington.

Caricatured as Mary Tomkins in the burlesque Never, Never, -Never, Never.

Character criticism:

"...one of the characters which readers of my novels have liked the best.... I have been continually honoured with letters, the purport of which has always been to beg me to marry Lily Dale to Johnny Eames. Had I done so, however, Lily would never have so endeared herself to these people." - An Autobiography

"Lily Dale ... was, by inference, the novelist's own ideal, and many readers worship in his company. Certainly Lily is perfect - whether, as at first, she is blithely mischievous; whether ...she is reserved and watchful; whether ... she walks with head bravely high, but with a broken heart." - Sadleir